She continued downward, kissing my abdomen, burying her nose in my bush and inhaling.

“God, you smell so good, Talon.”

“Please, baby, suck my cock.”

She lifted her head and met my gaze. “In good time.” She smiled.

I was on edge, ready to go fucking crazy. I grabbed fistfuls of the comforter to keep from grabbing her, turning her over, and fucking her into oblivion.

She massaged my thighs with her hands and her lips down to my calves, to my feet, my toes. And then back up again. She spread my legs and pushed my thighs forward.

I tensed.

“Shh,” she said. “Let me.”

She kissed the inside of my thighs, the crease between my thighs and ass, and then gave me tiny kisses on my balls, which were bunched up and ready to release at any moment.

Then, finally, she took my cock into her mouth, as slowly she trailed her finger down the crease of my ass.

Until she found that place.

I jerked.

“Shh,” she said again. “Let me. Trust me.”

I did trust her, but tension filled me.

She moved her lips from my cock and began to work it with her hand. She withdrew her other hand from the crease of my ass and wet it with her tongue. Slowly, that hand drifted down to where it had been.

Still tense. Still afraid.

But again her soft voice. “Take it back, Talon. Take your body back. It was never theirs. It’s yours, and it’s mine.”

And she gently probed through the tight rim of muscle.

I gasped.

“Easy,” she said. “Getting through that ring of muscle is the hardest part.”

I’d said the same words to her.

Her voice soothed me as I eased the tension from my muscles. Determination surged through me, determination to do what she had asked. To take my body back. To give in to the pleasure.

“Let yourself go. Let this feel good,” she said.

I lifted my neck, keeping my eyes open, so I could watch her, to know that it was her.

Needed to know it was her.

She worked farther in, still pumping my cock with her other hand.

I was still hard, still wanted her so goddamned much.

And as I watched her, her steely blue eyes fixed upon me, her gentle hands working parts of my body, I began to relax.

I began to feel pleasure.

“That’s it,” she said. “It’s me. Always me. No one but me. And I love you. I love you so much.”

My breath caught, and I leaned back onto the pillow, closing my eyes.

Her mouth replaced her hand on my shaft, and she continued to probe my ass as she sucked me.

Oh my God. So fucking good.

When my balls bunched up and the tiny convulsions started, I groaned. “I’m going to come, baby. I want you to swallow all of me. Swallow me, baby. Make me yours.”

And when I climaxed, and she lapped up all of my essence, I finally, finally…let go.

 

We woke together the next morning, sunlight streaming in through my window, Roger nestled at her feet.

She looked up at me as I stroked her soft cheek.

“Okay?” she asked.

“Better than okay. This was the first night we slept all night together.”

She smiled. “And nothing bad happened.”

I pressed my lips lightly against hers. “From now on, we sleep together, in my bed—our bed—every night.”

“I’d love nothing more.” She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

One of the bouquets of roses that Marj had brought home from town yesterday sat on my night table. I grabbed a red one, and slowly I trailed the soft petals across her cheeks, her lips.

“Mmm”—Jade opened her eyes—“that feels nice. I love roses. Even when you threw me out of the house that night, I knew I’d be back someday. I knew you felt something for me. Because of the rose you left on my pillow.”

I jerked, dropping the rose onto the bed next to Jade. My pulse raced. “What?”

She sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you talking about, blue eyes?”

“The next morning, after you asked me to leave the house. You left a rose on my pillow.”

I swallowed, my heart thundering. “Baby, I love you. But I didn’t leave a rose on your bed that morning.”

Epilogue

Jonah

I hadn’t seen Bryce Simpson in a couple of years, so when I got a phone call, I was surprised. He’d run off to Las Vegas and married some woman he’d only known a couple of weeks. He was my age, thirty-eight, and like me had been a bachelor most of his life. Now he was coming home to Snow Creek to visit his parents—the mayor and his wife. Not only that, but he had a new baby boy, nine months old.

I was sitting in Rita’s café, drinking a cup of coffee, when he came in to meet me, toting his new son.

I stood. “Bryce, man, so good to see you.” I gave him a man-hug. “Quite a little guy you’ve got there.”

The little boy was adorable, with light-blond hair and blue eyes. Bryce’s blond hair had turned a silvery gray.

“So where’s the missus?”

“We split up.”

“Oh? I’m sorry to hear that.” Though I was not surprised. I’d always thought Bryce more level-headed than to run off to Vegas with somebody he didn’t know very well.

“Yeah, it was a mistake. But I got Henry here out of it. She didn’t want custody. In fact, she hardly ever requests visitation.”

“Doing the single-dad thing?”

“It was never my plan. In fact, I never thought I’d have kids. But now that this little guy is here, I don’t know how I ever got along without him. You ever think of settling down?”

A loaded question if ever there was one. For the longest time, I had never wanted to saddle anyone with my life, as filled with guilt as it was. But now my brother Talon was moving on after twenty-five years from the abduction that had occurred when he was ten, the event that had affected both me and our younger brother, Ryan, as well.

Talon had a girl now, and they’d probably be tying the knot soon. If he could move forward, have a relationship, have a family, maybe it was time I did too. As I looked at Bryce and his little son, I felt a yearning that was new to me.

“Honestly, I haven’t. Not for a long time anyway. But you never know. Maybe I’ll meet a nice woman who wants an old rancher like me.”